Lose our Minds Together
by Lookforthelight
Summary: What if Ellie wasn't the only one to be immune? What if there was some chance in this godforsaken world that Riley, the love of her life, her best friend, shared her gift? Well that's just the begging. M for cute ElliexRiley stuff and cussing
1. Chapter 1

**I told you lameos i would write another fic, so here it is! I started it right after i finished left behind but i had to go to this thing with my brother and a bunch of stuff happened so it's late. I was kinda iffy about posting it cause i saw some other ones with the same exact plot but fuck it, i made a promise. Here you go! (Ellies P.O.V)**

"Curfew is in ten minutes, if you are caught out of your dorms you will be sentenced to extra drills." The intercom woman announced. God, I hate drills. Eight hours of shooting targets and studying military terms. I got into bed, looking up at the rotting wooden beams supporting a mattress above me. I've been alone in this room since I got to this place, apparently I'm too much of a troublemaker and it would rub off on the poor soul stuck as my roommate. I heard a knock at my door. One of those god dammed soldiers coming in to check if everyone is alright. He walked in and looked at me "You ok, Ellie?" The man asked. I nodded and picked up a book, pretending to read. Seconds later he closed the door and walked to the next room. I flipped the book over to the cover Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows, at least it's a goodie. Looking through the pages, I realize that this is the copy some kid threw up on when Riley and me dared him to eat three bars of soap. Why did I keep this? Fuckin' gross. I threw it across the room and flipped around onto my side. As I closed my eyes my mind was flooded with memories of Riley, how we interrupted a group of upperclassmen by busting in and shooting them with water guns, when we first met and she kicked the shit out of a couple of assholes for messing with me, all our trips to the old mall to drink old gross beer with Winston. She was a great friend until she told me to fuck off a couple weeks ago, better than great. To be honest, I think I was falling in love with her. I fell asleep remembering old memories and listening to the sound of rain.

_I heard screeches from a distant room. A door at the end of the hallway slowly opened, and three runners burst out. Fuck. I run down and force all my body weight onto a seemingly weak door. Nothing. I turn around to find a runner directly behind me. A soundless scream was the only outcome of the monster biting my neck._ I woke up gasping and pushed a nighttime intruder onto the floor, then reached as fast as I could under my pillow for my switchblade. I quickly turned around; ready to face the demon in my room, but it was no demon. "Riley?" I could barely believe she was in front of me. "Ow, I landed on my hip." She giggled while getting up. "What the hell? I thought I was bitten…" I admitted, rubbing the area of my neck she playfully bit. How the fuck did she get here? Am I dreaming? "I know, it was kind of awesome. You're not going to kill me are you?" Riley asked. I still had my knife out, and quickly put it away.

"I haven't seen you in I don't even know how long."

"Forty five days, well, forty six technically. Want to know what I've been up to?"

"All this time, I thought you were dead." It suddenly hit me. She was here to get something out of me.

"Yeah." She agreed, pulling off a necklace and handing it to me. "Here, look" It was a firefly pendant.

"No way" I breathed, holding the metal pendant in my hands. The cold metal chilled my shaky hand.

She looked up at my top bunk, "Still no roommate? I had to sleep under Liz for three years and you know how bad that girl smelled." She was trying to change the subject, but I won't let that happen, "You're a firefly" I flipped the pendant over in the palm of my hand. She shot me a 'hell yeah' look and turned over to my dresser to pull a picture of us off my wall.

"You still have it up."

I ran to the door and checked the hallway, looking for soldiers.

"What are you doing" she asked

"I'm making sure I don't get caught with a firefly in my room."

"Relax; there are no soldiers on the entire floor."

We stood in silence for a moment before I put the pendant back in her hand. That's like saying 'Fuck you', right? "Here, congrats" I told her. Yeah, that's like 'fuck you'.

"Hey," she grabbed my wrist "Are we cool?"

"Uh, are we cool?!" I repeated with anger in my voice

"I disappeared and you're mad" she started. No shit. "And I owe you an explanation, let's get out of here and I'll tell you all about it."

"It's almost morning." I argued. "And I have military duty today, you know, where we learn how to kill fireflies," she threw a pair of pants at me, "Put some pants on and let's go." This day is going to be shitty, I can just tell. "I'm so dumb" I mumbled to myself

"Come on, when have we ever gotten into trouble?" Riley asked me. I dunno, every time we do anything together. I pulled my pants on and headed to the door, pausing for a second before opening it. "Come on, this way." She motioned me in her direction. I jogged up to her and tried to start a conversation "So, what's it like being a Firefly?" I asked as we jumped out an open window onto an abandoned rooftop. "I dunno, all I've really done was shoot up a car full of dummies, so I can't really tell you how it is." She answered. We jumped onto another roof and I was just about to ask another question before she told me to get down. Two military caravans were driving up the street. "That was close." She said, her voice now sounded far away. I turned around to find her walking across a wooden beam. "Careful, it's wet." I balanced my way across.

"What if I became a firefly?" I asked

"That was the first thing I asked Marlene, she wants you to stay here and be safe."

"Pfft, bullshit. How could she want me to stay in this place? I can't become a soldier!" I argued, kicking a rock off the roof.

"Come on," Riley urged, and then jumped into the hole that leads into the building we were on.

I jumped down then realized it was the mall. "Do you remember the first time I took you here?" Riley asked, balancing on a beam. "Yeah" I breathed and looked around. Winston's tent was abandoned in the walkway.

"Man, I can believe he's dead."

"How'd the old man die anyway?" Riley asked, walking into the tent.

"They say he had a heart attack and fell off his horse." I didn't believe that story; he had no health problems as far as I knew.

"Let's see what he left us." Riley looked around his stuff. "Ah ha," she said, pulling out a nearly empty bottle of rum.

"You want some?" she asked me, holding the bottle out.

"Sure" I took the bottle from her.

"Careful, that's no beer." she added. I shot her a 'I can handle myself' look and took a big swig, then spit it right back out. Riley was laughing her ass off.

"Told you," she said and took the bottle from me, downing the rest of the bottle in one gulp.

"Come on, I got something to show you."

We walked until we found the small opening we once used. "God I hate going through this thing," I admitted, helping her with a beam to open the hole. "It always feels like we're going to get crushed." BAM! A rotting car crashed down and sent debris flying everywhere "Holy shit!" I yelled, covering my face with my forearm. "You know what, let's find another way around."

I looked around for a way over, then found an opening above some door we've never seen before

"Hey, what about up here?"

"Boosties?" Riley asked.

"Boosties."

I cupped my hands and helped her up and over the door. She didn't say anything or make any noises for a couple of minutes so I got kind of worried, even though she is an asshole. "Riley?" I asked, leaning in to try and hear what was going on. The door opened a bit and I walked in, only to have Riley jump out at me with a fucking clown mask on. "That's two times today you dick!" I pushed her away. "Here, I found the perfect mask for you," she led me to a stupid wolf man mask, and then guilt forced me to put it on. I didn't want her to be disappointed in me. "Badass, now roar," she ordered.

"Roar"

"No Ellie, fucking roar!"

I put my head down to look to the floor. God damn I could be sleeping right now. Uhg, if I don't do this I guess I won't have the chance.

"RROOAARR" I burst out, making Riley giggle and take a step backwards.

"Fuck yeah! Let's look around and see if we can find some more cool stuff."

I walked around until I found a jar full of fake eyes. "People actually bought this stuff?" I asked in amazement. "The past was weird…" I put down the eyes and turned around. The fake casket busted open and Riley walked out of it with a Frankenstein mask on. All I could do was stare and try not to laugh at how dumb it was. "That was kind of dumb." She admitted. I walked around the store until I found this small purple stage with a skull on it.

"Yeah." I picked up the plastic skull. "Ask Skeleseer a question and shake for your fortune, okay." I shook the skull, "Are we going to die today? Nothing. What a jip!" I put the skull down and turned to Riley. "You gotta turn it over, genius." She teased. "Oh" I turned it over to reveal a small circle with a triangle visible inside the skull.

"Seems dreadfully unlikely. Phew, what a relief!"

I shook it again, this time saying "Will I ever drive a car again?" I flipped the skull over again, "I feel it in my bones. Alright," I giggled.

Shaking the skull for a third time, I said, "Am I ever going to get to play a videogame?" I turned it over, "Your chances are dismal." "Fuck you… skull." I turned around and walked out the other door leading to the main half of the mall. "I have an idea," Riley told me, picking up a brick from the floor. "You see those cars down there? I'll be blue, you be red. The first one to break all the windows gets to ask the loser one question."

"Pfft, are you sure? I am the brick master."

"One, two, three, GO!" she yelled and chucked a brick at her car, missing the window by a longshot. "Fuck!"

I threw a brick at the back window and hit it immediately. Fuck yeah! I raced to another brick and that too hit a window. Two down four to go. Riley threw her brick and it hit the front window of her car. Fuck, I can't lose! I'm the brick master! I took two bricks in my hands and chucked them both at my car, hitting only one window, leaving only the other side and the windshield to go. I sprinted to the opposite side of the mall. Riley had four windows left and was breaking them fast. I grabbed a brick and threw it as hard as I could at the windshield and that fucker was gone. Me and Riley wrestled for a lone brick, but in the end I let her have it. I quickly found another brick and angled my throw perfectly to hit the desired window. One more! I took a brick and made my final throw, hitting the window right in the center. "BRICK. FUCKING. MASTER!" I yelled as I took off my mask and threw it to the ground. "Question time" I teased, causing Riley to roll her eyes. I thought for a while then made a decision. "You know what, never mind." I said. "Alright… come on, I gotta show you the thing."

Riley led me to a door that looked like it led to a janitor closet. She opened the door and it did not lead to a closet, but a hallway. "You know how we thought they only gave power to some parts of the city? Well they don't, they just flip the circuit breakers." She walked into a small room and opened a metal box on the wall. There was a huge switch there. "Pull it" she insisted, and I did. The lights in the mall instantly went on. "Holy shit," I mumbled. We walked back down the hallway but before I could open the door, my brain was telling me to say something. Screw it. I pushed open the door and found a whole mall, lit up and decorated with lights and games. Besides from the debris and the weeds everywhere, it was like nothing ever happened.

"No way!" I instantly ran to the carousel set up in the middle of the mall. I ran on and sat on top of the first horse I found "Yah!" I murdered. Riley giggled at me and turned on the machine. This was honestly the most fun I have ever had in so long. "Get on with me," I said, patting the horse I was on. She jumped over the fence and climbed on a horse next to me. Seconds later the machine stopped. "No!" she started, "Live!" Riley finally gave up on the horse and pulled a book out of her backpack. She cleared her throat and began to read, "What did the triangle say to the circle?" Oh man! "What's that?" I asked. She ignored my question and finished the pun "You're pointless!"

"Fuck you, you found another pun book." I caught onto her game.

"What did the cannibal get when he was late for dinner?"

"I don't know, what?" I asked

"A cold shoulder!" We both busted out laughing at the dumb pun.

"Here," she handed me the book "It's for you."

I took it and started looking though, "you know, you might just be my favorite person again…"

We got off and walked down the stairs.

"Hey, the photo booth is open! Let's go take some pictures."

We raced to the photo booth and sat down inside. "You press the buttons, no I will, no, you do it." she was too excited to choose, so I went on and did it myself 'Choose a theme' the machine asked. Romantic? No, that would make her uncomfortable or something. Friends? No, what if she likes me too and just leaves it at that? The last choice was cool. Yeah, cool, that's not so bad. I clicked on the button under the cute bunny with shades. "Cool?" Riley asked, "What's cool about that?"

"Well it's a bunny," I started, "with shades." She smirked and leaned back. "Oh, get ready." I urged. We leaned into the camera and smiled. FLASH

"Oh, now do I scary face!" FLASH

"Blowfish, blowfish!" We squished out faces with our hands. FLASH

"Now angle!" FLASH

"Heh, that was fun. Let's print our pictures." I looked for the print button, but it only took like half a second. "Print" I said, pressing the button. 'Out of paper' "No, print, damn you!" I pressed the button again. Riley decided to join in on the fun, pressing the button with me. "Print you fucker!" We slammed our fists onto the button multiple times and a grey error box appeared which made us hit it more. "Here, try this," Riley hit her fists on the area above the button and around it, and then the screen went black. "Oh" I said, "I think we broke it." We giggled nervously for a couple seconds. "Soo" Riley and I said at the same time. There was silence in the small space for quite a while.

"Hey Riley, what would you do if we got bit." I asked

"I don't know, I guess we could go out all poetic, and just lose our minds together."

We stayed in the booth for a good five minutes after that, just looking at the back screen. I sighed, my brain was telling me to leave and explore, but my heart was telling me to fuck everything and kiss my best friend. I made a silent growl and decided to go with my brain. "Want to go explore some more?" She asked before I could get the chance to. "Hell yeah" I said and scooted out of the booth.

I turned around, looking for something interesting, when a faint purple light caught my eye. "Riley! C'mon!" I ran to the light as fast as I could. "No fucking way." I nearly fainted at the sight of the arcade in front of me.

"Come on Ellie, this is what I was going to show you."

We walked to the back and stopped in front of a broken, smashed, and burn arcade game. "No no no no no! What the fuck happened?!" Riley clutched the game. "Fuck, this is what I've been building up to all day!"

"Hey man, it's okay. I'm pretty sure it would have been broken like all the other games in this place, we'll come back tomorrow and try to fix one up, alright?" I tried to cheer her up by patting her on the back.

"We can't" she calmly said.

"Well fine then, another day." I said, she started to back away

"I can't."

"What do you mean, firefly girl?"

"I have to leave today. They are taking me to a base across the country."

"Wait, so this whole day has just been a way out for you?" How could she do this to me? She could have just left and been done with it!

"No, I…I don't know what this day has been actually."

"Well it seems like it's just been you feeling guilty and want my permission to leave." I nearly yelled those last words, which made her face drop even lower than it was before. "You want my advice? Go."

"I'm going to go check out this music." She opened the door and walked away.

"Fuck" I slammed my fist on one of the broken arcade games. God dammit, I'm going to have to go find her now. I walked over and pushed the door open. "Riley?" I called out, but the hall was silent. "Riley?" I asked again, this time walking the direction the music. I walked into a room full of mannequins, and pushed the first one in my way onto the floor, "What the fuck are you looking at?" I yelled at the pile of plastic body parts. A door ahead of me was slightly pushed open, so I opened it all the way and found riley standing in front of a little city model. "You even seen anything like this?" she asked.

"Riley, stop trying to chance the subject. Why did you come here?" I asked, with a serious tone to my voice.

"Ellie, I-"

"You want an out? I'm giving it to you."

She threw down her bag, and our water guns fell out "I didn't cross a city full of soldiers and risk my life for some water guns to ask for and out." Oh. "Fine." I said. God, I'm such an asshole. I picked the water guns up and handed one to Riley, "I'm going to destroy you." I said, pumping the gun to its full potential. "Ha, fine" she said, backing up and pumping her water gun. I assumed she was done and we instantly sprayed each other with the guns until they were out of water and we were soaking wet. "Fuck yeah! I win!" I cheered, since most of her water missed, but I still got soaked. "Fuck no, it was close!" riley tried to argue.

"Let's go again and hunt each other. The first one to get hit loses."

"Riley I really want to, but I have to go."

"Yeah, alright. Can I at least walk you home?" That sentence immediately reminded me of all those romance books where the cool popular guy walks the nerdy girl home after the dance. I gulped and agreed with her "Alright, I guess you can."

"C'mon I just gotta get my bag." We jogged back to our bags. "Here," she gave me her water gun, "I won't put it to any use, you keep them." I took the water guns and kneeled down to put them in my bag.

"I know I said it like and asshole, but really Riley, I want you to go. You've wanted this forever, who am I to make you stay?"

"The only person who can." She told me. Oh.

I put my hands together like I was praying or something "Pleeasee don't go, I'll be miserable without you." I teased.

"Pfft, yeah right. You still have that Walkman?"

"Always." I took the Walkman out of my bag and handed it to her

"What's in it?" she asked

"That tape you gave me." I answered. Her face lit up.

"You will be miserable without me" she took the Walkman and motioned me her way. "C'mon, leave your bag."

She walked to the electronic section and pulled a cord out of one of the stereos. I watched as she plugged the cord into my Walkman and turned up the sound. "What are you doing?" '_I got you babe' _started playing throughout the mall. Riley climbed up on top of the counter and started dancing to the music. "Come on up here, Ellie." She helped me up and then we were both jumping and dancing on the counter.

_They say our love won't pay the rent _

_Before it's earned, our money's all been spent _

_I guess that's so, we don't have a pot _

_But at least I'm sure of all the things we got_

_Babe_

_ I got you babe I got you babe_

I stopped dancing. I can't let her go, she's my best friend. The love of my life. I just can't. "Hey, what's wrong?" Riley asked, she had also stopped dancing.

"Don't go" I pled, my voice broke in the proses.

She paused for a second and then pulled off her dogtag. What? Was she going to stay with me? My lips were suddenly pressed onto hers for a few magical seconds before I pulled away, a stupid smirk was now painted on my face. "Sorry" was all I could say. "Sorry for what?" She had the same dumb smile on her face. Did she want that? Did she like me too? With all these thoughts running through my head I barely noticed the group of runners coming at us.

"Riley!" I gasped.

"Oh fuck, run!" We bolted to the metal door and pushed it open together. "What about our bags?" I asked while running down a hall full of mannequins.

"Fuck the bags!"

A runner came up and attacked Riley, but before it could bite her, I jumped on its back and stabbed the fucker to death with my knife. "Thanks."

"Come on, this window is open." She led me in her direction. We entered jumped up onto a ledge with abandoned building supplies and ran up to the window. She climbed up an old metal shelf and reached out for my hand. I shakily climbed onto the shelf, but immediate plummeted to the floor. "Ellie!" she yelled and ran down to help. A runner tackled me to the floor and I blocked it with my forearm. My arm felt like something just stabbed it over and over again, but I didn't care now. We needed to get out of here. "This way!" she helped the dead runner off of me and we ran to another open door. Three more runners came out at us, but we close the door on them and locked it. Yeah, that will help. Everything was great until a runner came out of nowhere and jumped on Riley. Fuck no, after all this shit I was not going to let her just die. I poured all my anger from this entire day into slicing the fuck out of this runner's neck. Blood sprayed everywhere when I was done. I stood in silence for a couple seconds before Riley's voice broke, "Ellie, your arm."

I wiped blood off my arm in a panicked motion. There it is. "No," I said, trying to scrub off the wound like it was just paint. "No, no, no, no," I repeated over and over again. "Ellie" Riley got my attention and showed me her hand. She was bitten too. Tears streamed down my bloody face as I dropped to my knees and took her hand in mine. "I'm sorry" she thought it was her fault.

"Don't be. I'm the one who got mad and had you leave the arcade." I cradled her hand close to my chest and sat next to her. "What are we going to do?" I asked and let go of her wounded hand. "Well, the way I see it, we have two options. We can take the easy way out," she tossed her gun to the floor, "or we fight." "What for? We'll be dead in a couple hours." I didn't want to argue, but my mind made me. "There are a million ways we could've died today. And a million ways we could die before tomorrow. But we fight for every second we get to spend with each other. Whether its two minutes… or two days… we don't give that up. I don't want to give that up. My vote? Let's just wait it out. You know, like is said, we can be all poetic and just lose our minds together." Her words brought me to tears. "C'mon, let's go." She helped me up and we walked out of the mall with our arms wrapped around each other. That fucking Skeleseer is a dick.

**it would be super rad if you left a review, that is if you actually enjoyed it. I'm not sure when I can post a new chapter but it should be by Monday next week. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's a short one for now (i literally have nothing to do ever so i write a lot) even tough i like just posted**

We decided to go back into the mall to get our stuff and ride around on the carousel together. It was nice, for the first hour, then it started to make me want to die faster. I shouldn't have met Riley. I shouldn't have let any of this happen, it's all my fault. No. I won't mourn our deaths while we're still alive. If we still have time left, we are going to do something meaningful. My mind raced through possibilities of things we could do in this mall, then Winston came up. Didn't the soldiers just toss out his body like trash? "Riley." I began, and climbed off the rusted horse, "Let's bury Winston's picture, at least he can get a proper burial."

I wiped tears and blood off my face and walked over to his old orange tent, leaving Riley behind. "Hey, wait up." Her voice wasn't the same, but neither was mine. We both walked into the tent together, she picked up a shovel off the floor and I got the picture. "Over there," I pointed to the small garden of overgrown plants "Yeah.". We slowly walked over to the green area and Riley started to dig. Tears flooded my eyes when she finished the hole and I placed in the picture, and then pushed the dirt back into the hole. "Ellie, it's alright." Riley tried to console me, but I felt her tears drip onto my shoulder. I got up and turned around and hugged Riley tighter than I knew possible, and we stood crying into each other's shirts "I don't want go." I mumbled into her shoulder. "Hey, it's alright, at least we'll be together again." Riley took my hand, "Let's go someplace else."

Riley led me through the mall to a mattress store. "Fuck, the lock is broken." She murmured and looked up, sadly there was no window above it. "Move out of the way really quick," I told her, then rammed my shoulder into the door, breaking the glass and leaving one hell of a bruise for me, luckily I didn't get cut up by the glass. That was the only luck I had today. "You didn't have to do that, you know." Riley had a bobby pin in her hand. God, I'm so dumb. We walked in and checked for infected. Clear. "Here, I'll block the door," I told her, using all my strength to push a mattress in front of the broken glass. We collapsed on one of the many mattresses this store had to offer.

"is your fever in yet?" I asked. Mine hadn't come in, which was weird since it should have started an hour ago.

"No, I hadn't even thought of that." Riley sat up and felt her head. "It's been four hours, what the fuck?"

"Here, let me feel your head, maybe you just can't feel it," I put a hand up to her head, nothing. "What did that one report say, three to four hours until the fever hits?" I felt my head and was only met with dried blood and cold sweat.

"Let's sleep it off." She told me, cutting apart a different mattress to use as a blanket. She laid down onto the mattress and put the makeshift blanket over the both of us.

"Yeah," I said, I got out my Walkman and curled up next to her. After handing her one of the ear buds so we could die listening to music together, I turned it on to a song that I usually skip. I think I had heard this song before, but this time it was acoustic.

_Jenny darlin', you're my best friend_

_But there's a few things that you don't know of_

_Why I borrow your lipstick so often_

_I'm using your shirt as a pillow case._

_I wanna ruin our friendship_

_We should be lovers instead_

_I don't know how to say this_

_'cause you're really my dearest friend_

That's when I started crying, and didn't stop. I realized then that I truly did love Riley with all of my heart. I wrapped my arms around her and cried into her neck, knowing this would be one of the last thing I do before I turn into one of those freaks. I backed up a little, moving my face from her neck, and closed my eyes. "May death never stop us." I whispered, then fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

I was shaken awake and quickly opened my eyes, only to see Riley, who was very much alive. "What the hell?" I said, looking down at my bite which was starting to scab. "How's your head?" she asked me, her hands still on my shoulders, "I'm fine, what about you?" I asked, craning my neck to look at her hand. From the angle I was in I could see that hers showed no sign of infection. "I'm...I'm fine." She said, now sitting on the side of the mattress "I'm _fine_" She got up and grabbed her bag from the floor, "C'mon, we have to go get Marlene." She shoved the mattress out of the way and walked out. "What the fuck is going on," I asked myself while gathering my things and joining her in the walkway. We didn't talk the entire time, we just cautiously jogged and glanced at each other's wounds. It didn't take us long to find her, seeing that she was sitting inside Winston's tent.

"Girls, are you two okay?!" She ran up to me first and nearly fainted when she saw the bite mark on my forearm. "Oh my god Ellie, what happened?" she questioned and looked closer at my wound. "We were exploring, and a couple of infected swarmed us, but neither of us have gotten a fever and it's been at least eight hours since it happened." She looked at me in shock, "Neither of 'us'?" she asked me, and then looked over to Riley who held up a bloody, bitten hand. "Come with me you two, the others need to hear about this." She grabbed our wrists and led us out to a stolen military truck. "Charlie, zip tie these girls' wrists for me please and thank you," some guy walked out with a cigarette in his mouth and nodded while Marlene got into the truck. The douchebag firefly grabbed my wrist and tied them together really tightly, doing the same to Riley. The only nice thing he did was help us into the truck, and we were off.


	3. Chapter 3

** Sorry these chapters have been kinda' short, i promise once i get all my real life stuff all situated i'll make a hella long one and post it just for you guys**

Our ride was bumpy the zip tie was cutting at my wrist, but Riley managing to hold my hand the entire time made it so much better. We were locked in the back and Marlene often send us worried looks through the window that separated us. "Hey, do you remember when we read that old zombie book, with the immune main chick who chopped all those undead fucker's heads off?" Riley whispered to me, nudging me in the side with her elbow. I smiled and nodded, "Too bad we set it on fire, it would be nice to have right now." The truck halted and turned harshly, I looked out of a tinted window, we we're now in an alley. The back door opened and Marlene greeted us with a forced smile, I could see the worry in her eyes. "Here, let me help you two with your ties, I don't think you'll be needing them," she gently cut the zip ties off our wrists, and Riley took mine into her hands, rubbing the area where the zip tie left its mark. I could feel my face turn red. "Alright lover girls, that's enough." Marlene teased, winking at the both of us. I could have died of embarrassment right there, but living was kind of important right now.

Marlene led us through an abandoned building, up onto a roof, threw an attic, and finally to a small room inside an apartment building. "You two stay here and um," Marlene looked around, "I don't know, read a book or something. I'll be back with a couple of blankets in maybe an hour." She closed the door behind her and left us in the room.

"So… what books are left here?" Riley asked me, now rubbing her own wrists.

I walked over to the shelf; _The Tracey Fragments, The Road, Water for Elephants, Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone,_ and an odd looking comic called _Attack on Titan #1_ were all that was left. I grabbed the comic, it was thick and the cover was on the wrong side. "What the fuck kind of comic book is this?" I asked, turning onto what should be the first page, only to be stopped by many warnings and 'WRONG SIDE' written everywhere. "What the fuck is that?" Riley was suddenly behind me, which made me jump and throw the book into the air in shock. "God dammit Riley you asshole!" I picked the book up off the floor and turned around; Riley was on the floor laughing harder than I've ever seen. I growled and opened the book from the back, which was apparently the front. "Holy shit!" I said, plopping down to the ground into a more comfortable position. The book was illustrated with huge some huge skinless dude attacking some tiny people.

"This thing is rad!"

"Let me see that," Riley took it out of my hands and held it up so we both could read.

We sat and read the couple of books on the shelf until Marlene came back, well I did, Riley fell asleep halfway through the second book I picked up. She knocked on the door, obviously listening for growls of the infected we should have become. "It's open, and we're not dead yet!" I tried not to yell, because Riley was still asleep on my shoulder. Marlene opened the door and placed the blankets and pillows she was holding on a stray couch. "Does she have a fever?" she asked me, the stress in her voice got worse with every word. I felt Riley's head, nothing, thank god. "She's fine, I feel pretty great too, despite the bite in my arm." Marlene smiled and took off her backpack, opening it to reveal some flashlights, food, books, and bottles of water. "I'm sorry but you girls are going to need to stay here for a while so we can sort some things out." She put the backpack down on the kitchen counter top, "There's a room back there you two can sleep in, but if you'd rather sleep in here that's alright too. Stay safe, I'll be back in the morning." She waved goodbye with a sad smile, then left.

Riley softly snored next to me, still on my shoulder as reached for the blankets. No luck. I put my hands on her arm and kept her balanced as I tried once again to knock down the blankets. Fuck. "Sorry if I wake you up." I whispered and slowly lowered her to the ground. She didn't even look disturbed. Slowly, I walked to the couch and took the blankets and pillows to the other room. As I opened the door, a loud creak came from it. I cringed and looked over to Riley, who was still sound asleep.

The room was nice, it didn't look like any plants or mold had gotten into it. It had a queen size bed with a sheet almost covered in blood on it. Fuckin' gross oh god. I dropped the items in my hands and walked over to the bed. I lifted up the sheet and like six or seven dead mice lay in it, and trust me they smelled fucking horrible. Swallowing the vomit in my mouth, I left the room, picking the blankets and pillows back up from the floor. Riley was still on the floor sleeping, so I had to walk quietly to the couches. They were both the same size, so I put down contents of my hands once again and pushed the couches together will all my strength, making them into a bed shaped thing, then made it perfect with the blankets and pillows. It killed me to do this, but I had to wake Riley up. Her sleeping face was so peaceful, despite the hell we went through today. "Hey, Riley, wake up. Come off the floor and sleep over on this couch thing I made." I nudged her awake. She mumbled something I didn't understand and flopped down on the couches. "What?" I asked her while covering her up with one of the blankets Marlene gave us, but she had already fallen asleep. I went and grabbed one of the smaller books from the shelf '_The Tracey Fragments'_. I opened it and began to read.

"Hey, Ellie wake up!" I opened my eyes to Riley, or what I thought was Riley, the room was super dark and I couldn't see past my hands. I guess I fell asleep reading. I fumbled in the dark to find Marlene's bag that held a flashlight. I felt the fabric and pulled it closer to me, shoving my hand inside and grabbing our light source. I flipped the switch and Riley was standing right in front of me, I didn't expect it so I gasped loudly, making her laugh once again at me. "You asshole, stop fucking scaring me!" I pushed her away with the flashlight in my hand, "Come on, get in this thing over here." She helped me up and into our couch fortress; I brought the book I was reading earlier and my Walkman with me so we wouldn't get bored. "Hey, when did you get up?" I asked her, snuggling with the blankets. "Like half an hour ago, I was fumbling all over the place looking for you." She laid down next to me and closed her eyes, her hand searching the sheets for mine, and when our hands finally met mine, they intertwined. "Riley." I said, staring at the ceiling I couldn't see, "Hmm?" she replied, obviously half asleep, "I love you." She tightened her grip on my hand when I uttered those last words. I fell asleep with a warm feeling in my cheeks and her hand still hugging mine.

**I hope you guys like this, its hella fun to write! Any constructive criticism is welcome btw**


	4. god dang a note im sorry

**Okay so something really ****_really_**** lame happened today, i was writing a really long chapter and it was hella good then BAM my computer crashed and everything got deleted, so i tried again. I got like 1k words in an was like "holy shit this is going to be so dumb no one is going to like this." and so i deleted it to tried again, this time very different from the two previous versions of the next chapter. I got like 500-800 words in and i couldn't think anymore so i though "god dang what do i do now, do i make them (DANGSONTHATSASPOILER) or do i have the three (WOWMORESPOILERSNOPENOTFORUFRIEND)?" in the end all my ideas were super shitty so i was like "ugh i'm going to go play guitar hero and think some more" but after i got done jamming out and i was feeling all hella inspired and had a great idea i tried to write it out and i just couldn't man. it was like "ha no all of your ideas are dumb and you will never be a good writer again" so i've decided to take another week to make the super long one to think of how i can make this fic hella good. I'm super sorry if you guys are disappointed in me for this (i know i am) and im super pissed at myself because i cant think of any ideas and stuff. See you soon (maybe with another fic while i'm thinking about where to go with this one?) -Macy **


	5. Chapter 4

**_Well friends, today i had some extra time on my hands, so i decided i'd give you a short story building kinda chapter (wait that's like every chapter whoops) so here you go! *also you guys' reviews are so damn nice, i love each and every one of you c:*_**

_I woke up to a gargles and hisses from next to me. I removed the pillow from my face and looked over to Riley, who was sleeping peacefully, but what was the noise? The hisses got louder and louder, so I grabbed our flashlight, switched it on, and turned to face a horde of infected at our bedside- or should I say couchside. I tried to scream, but I couldn't make a soun. I grabbed the blanket and threw it over Riley and me, thinking that would do something. Suddenly from under the blanket there was a deep growl, and then Riley jumped on top of me, scratching and clawing at my face. I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything, all I could do was lay there and try to scream. Finally, she ripped most of the flesh off my neck, but I couldn't feel any of it, all I could feel was my body shaking, then my eyes shot wide open. _

"Wake up, fucker!" Riley shook me awake; I lay there breathing heavily, very sweaty and very gross.

"Holy shit man, I just had the worst dream ever." I rubbed my eyes and yawned

"Tell me about it, stud." Riley said in a voice that kind of sounded like Sandy from that dumb teen movie called '_Grease'._ That was the only movie Winston could find that day he got his old TV and VCR set to work off of a few batteries and a stolen extension cord.

I glared at her for half a second before we both exploded into giggles. "You're so dumb oh my god why am I even friends with you." I said, still laughing, "Anyway, in my dream we were in our little couch bed-"

"I like where this is going," Riley interrupted, grinning at me.

"Oh be quite! We were in the bed and there was like a horde of infected outside of it, so I like covered us with the blanket for some reason, and a couple seconds later you were all infected and shit then attacked me. You ended up ripping a huge chunk out of my neck, and then I woke up."

"That sounds shitty. I was expecting something _very_ different." Riley picked up a book and sat down on the floor.

"Pfft, like I would ever have that kind of dream about _you_" I could feel my face turn red as her smirk widened. That last sentence was a lie; of course I've had one of those dreams about her. She's the one person in this fucked up world I actually trust with my life, the one person I love, but dirty dreams don't guarantee love, just lust.

"You look like a fucking tomato," Riley laughed at my embarrassment and put down her book to laugh some more.

_Knock Knock Knock _"You alright girls?" Marlene asked from the other side of the door. "Yeah, we're all good, come in." Riley said, still laughing at my red face. Marlene walked in with this super-hot, tall white guy that had a killer beard. "Who's this?" I asked a blush still on my face. "This is Joel. He's going to take you girls to the Fireflies, before you freak out, I'll be there waiting." Marlene introduced the tall dude and he held out his hand for us to shake. Riley shook his hand, but I decided to see if he was lame or not, so I put up my fist.

He sighed and fist bumped me before turning to Marlene, "You never told me I'd be takin' kids." His deep Texan accent practically shook the walls.

"It's twenty miles Joel, I'll be there before you know it."

"Why can't you do this? Like you said, it's only twenty miles." He protested. Maybe he's not as rad as I though.

"I have some business with Robert to take care of, when you get to the capital building some Fireflies will be there to give you your supplies." She finished, maybe they had a deal about taking us?

The capital building? Isn't that the one that looks like a huge golden boob? I tried to control my laughter, but Riley noticed and nudged me, "Are you thinking of the boob thing too?" she asked, resulting in an explosion of giggles from the both of us.

"Now, why am I smugglin' these two girls? What do they have to do with the Fireflies?" He finally asked, pointing at us.

"That's for the Fireflies to know and the world to find out, Mr. Miller."

"Alright, but I best get paid at the end of all this nonsense or there will be no Fireflies." His voice got scary deep at the end of his sentence.

"Soooo, we're going with this guy?" Riley asked, she obviously wasn't paying very much attention to what was going on.

"Yes, get your things. You leave in half an hour." Marlene told her, her voice was a little less stressed and worried now.

"Okie dokie artichokeie," Riley ended the short conversation and grabbed her backpack, filling it with water and the books we found. I grabbed my Walkman, putting a one earphone in my ear and handing the other to Riley. I grabbed my backpack and we sat on the couch listening to the old tape she gave me before Joel cleared his throat and started to speak, "C'mon girls, times'a wastin'." We headed out the door, giving final hugs to Marlene as we left. For all we know, could be the last time we see her.


	6. Chapter 5

**oh my gOD im so sorry i lied again. I had a friend over and completely forgot to post, plus they put pokemon on netflix. I promise i'll try to post a short chapter every two days maybe to make up for my mistakes. Here's a short chapter i wrote in like half an hour maybe, please forgive me for my mistakes :c**

"So," I said, trying to start a conversation as we walked down a now empty road that was once a very busy city, "Why'd Marlene put you up to this?" Joel sighed, "She promised me supplies and protection, not that I can't take care of myself, I jus' made the wrong types of enemies the past couple of months." "What kinds of enemies?" I ask. Joel makes a noise that sounds very annoyed, and after a moment of silence, he finally bean to speak, "Stop pestering me kid, just, just the wrong kind. Now hush up." We've gone about ten miles from the apartments, and before began to question Joel none of us had spoken. Joel just watched out for infected and soldiers while me and Riley listened to music. "C'mon girls, this way," Joel motioned us towards an empty house looking around for infected. "Stay here and keep a lookout, Im'a check out this house for infected." He told us, opening the door and walking inside the old two story house.

"Don't die" Riley said, looking down at the screen of an old portable gaming system she had. I hadn''t even noticed she left my side.

"What are you doing?" I asked, looking over at her screen.

"I dunno' I just found this thing inside of a box in that mailbox over there" she answered, moving a button on the side of the seemingly broken machine, then it turned on. Some words they couldn't read fast enough appeared then a _Game freak_ logo flashed by with a bunch of stars. "Woah" I said, looking more intently at the small screen as a sure little tune started to play. Riley pressed a little button labeled 'start' and a fucking rad looking dragon appeared in black and white, then turned orange with the words '_Pokémon FireRed Version_'

"What's a 'poke-mon'?" I asked.

Riley shrugged "Who knows? Let's see what this thing is though,"

She pressed start and a new screen appeared

CONTINUE

Player Ryan

Time 60:56

POKéDEX 34

BADGES 8

NEW GAME

"Oh, um, start a new game I guess," I suggested, and then Riley pressed the little down arrow and hit start. "I wonder who Ryan was" I said as Riley violently mashed the button to skip directions.

"Whoa wait don't skip those! How are we going to know how to fucking play?!" I lectured and tried to take the gaming system from her. She spun out of my reach and continued to play.

"Calm down I'll figure it out, okay, are we a boy or a girl?"

"Girl, duh," I said, going back to watching the tiny screen.

"What's our name? Riley or Ellie?" Riley asked, tearing her eyes from the small screen to look at me. I guess I'm making all the important decisions.

"Hmmm, what about Rellie?" I suggested.

"Perfect! It's like both of our names in one!" she said, typing out the name with the tiny keys.

"No shit," I mumbled as she pressed enter and the screen changed again. "Oh man we get to name this dudes grandson? Let's name him something dumb like cock or gonorrhea," I tried to contain my laughter when she said that last word, but I'm very immature and words like that are funny. "All clear," a voice from behind called out, "What do ya' got there?" Joel asked, walking over to Riley. "Um, it's a… uh…I don't know what this is actually, I found it in that mailbox." Riley answered, turning over the game system and looking onto the back. Joel chuckled and took the device from her, "Hey! Give it back old man," Riley argued, trying to take it back. "Now this here is a Gameboy Advance, I haven't seen one of these since I was a kiddo like you two." He turned it over and handed it back to Riley. "Now, enough of that, come help me scavenge this shithole and we will be on our way." Joel finished and walked into the house. I watched as Riley tucked it into her front pocket and followed Joel's steps, we were both wearing guy pants so the danger of it falling out of her pocket was gone. Thank god for big pockets! *mentally high fives myself* "Whoa wait up guys," I said, running in after them and closing the door behind me.

"Ellie come up here this room is fucking awesome!" Riley called from upstairs. Joel shook his head and continued to look through a kitchen cabinet. I walked up the creaky stairs and turned into the room Riley called from. "What do you-woah.." I said, looking around the room. It was filled with comic books and old gaming systems. "You're right, this place is rad," I said, looking through unscavenged drawers. "There's a whole bunch of those 'game boy advance' games in here." I said, looking though the pile. "Whoa, this one looks different, see if it will work in that one," I said, handing a small square to her entitled '_THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ORACLE OF AGES'_ She took out the other game and inserted the new one, surprisingly, it worked just fine. Riley closed the Game Boy and put it back in her pocket, "We'll play it later, lets look around some more" . "Alright girls, you best get comfortable up there, it's getting dark fast so we're staying here," Joel yelled from downstairs, obviously annoyed. "Cool," I mumbled and plopped down on the bed with an old comic book. Riley got up and locked the door.

"What are you doing that for?" I asked.

"That Joel guy is shady. I don't trust him." She sat down on the bed next to me, "What are we reading?"

"Uhh, The Walking Dead." I answered. Wow.

"Nice." Riley said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Riley say crisscross and pulled her backpack of her back.

"I'm starving," I said, "what do you have in there?"

"Uhm, animal crackers and juice boxes." She answered me and threw said food items my way.

"Hell yeah," I kicked off my shoes and laid down on the bed, juice in one hand and a comic in the other.

"I'm surprised these haven't gone bad, it's been twenty fucking years," she said, stabbing a hole in the juice box and attacking the straw with her mouth.

"The military must have been hiding them from us, those fuckers," I said, trying to get the straw in my mouth, but failing every time.

"You'd be dead without me," Riley said and helped an irritated me finally get the straw into my mouth. "Yeah, most likely, or just a military tool." I spoke without losing the straw.

I got about half way into this comic when I was suddenly hit with a bear shaped animal cracker. "You little shit," I said, picking the cracker up off my shirt and eating it. She threw another one at me, and I caught it in my mouth, feeling very proud of myself as I did. "Wow you're like a seal," she said, throwing more helpless, delicious animals into my mouth. "Pfft, seals wish they were like me." I said, putting the comic book down to wipe crumbs off my face. "You're a mess," she said, wiping crumbs off my chest. "I am a mess, I don't even know how that happened." I agreed and sat up to wipe more crumbs off me and the bed. "I wonder what Joel's doing," I said, putting the crackers, juice, and comics onto a nightstand near the bed. "I bet he's crying because he's old." She said, laying down and kicking her shoes off. The room was getting darker every minute.

I crawled under the blankets with the Gameboy, which I very sneakily stole from Riley while she wasn't paying attention. I turned it on to the 'poke-mon' game and it started up. That's when it blasted the dumb theme song. "What the fuck, when did you steal that?" she said, sliding herself under the blankets. "I don't even remember, I just know I have it and you don't," I answered, sticking my tongue out at her. She pinched my arm really hard, making me squeal and give the Gameboy back to her. "That's what I thought," she said, starting up the game from our last save. "You're mean," I playfully pouted and turned to face the opposite direction. "Turn back around, we get to pick a monster thing," Riley told me, and nudged my back. I made a somewhat angry noise and refused to move. "Fine, if you aren't going to talk I'll just pick the weird fire lizard thing." Oh man I want to see what that looks like- NO! I won't give her the satisfaction. Her pinching me was a declaration of war! I heard Riley sigh, and then her teeth were sinking into my shoulder, making me jump out of the bed. "FUCK!" I yelled, craning my neck to look at my shoulder. "I didn't need two bite marks you ass!" I rubbed my new bite, she didn't draw blood but I was still mad. "Stop being a baby, I barely bit you." She said, looking at the screen like she was hypnotized. "You still bit me," I grumbled and got back into the bed. She leaned over and kissed my bitten shoulder, making me turn a whole new shade of red. "Look how cool this is," I looked over to her screen to see a fucking awesome orange baby lizard thing with fire on its tail. "That's so cool," I mumbled, still red from seconds before. The kid we named gonorrhea picked some lame turtle thing, then we got to fight him. "Oh man, kick his ass, Riley!" I said, watching the screen very closely. "Hell yeah lizard baby, fuck him up!" Riley cheered as our monster thing made the other kid's 'poke-mon' faint. "Okay, save game," Riley said to herself as she saved our progress and closed the system and put it safely back into her pocket. "Awe, but it was just getting good," I whined. "And it will continue to get good in the morning," Riley forced me to turn onto my side then pulled me closer to her. I felt my cheeks turn red as she tightened the hug. I wiggled into a comfortable position and we soon fell asleep. My dreams were filled with kickass baby fire lizards and turtles.


	7. Chapter 6

**Wow another short as fuck chapter how surprising. I'm actually really sorry for my laziness, but somehow I figured out how to not get bored with writing this: fan-mixes! Anyway, here you go! (It gets kinda cute near the middle so beware)**

I woke up early in the morning, before Riley and Joel, or so I though. There was a loud groan from down stairs, which made me jump almost two feet. _Oh no,_ I grabbed my pocket knife and slowly inched out of the room Riley and I slept in.

I crawled to the stairs, looking down to the floor below, and saw two clickers, and an unconscious, beat up Joel. I made my way down the stairs and slowly walked towards the first fungus corrupted monster. The floor creaked under me, but they didn't seem to notice. I took a deep breath to ready myself for what was to come next, flipping the blade out on my knife. I slowly inched towards the first clicker, silently stood up, and stabbed that dumb fucker in the neck. It's high pitched, ear piercing scream startled its partner, and sent it barreling towards me. I dodged its grab, but tripped on the dead clicker. It crashed into the wall, knocking down framed pictures of a once loving family as it did, and then was back on top of me.

"What the fuck is going on down here?" Riley yelled from upstairs as she put on her shoes, then she must have seen the clicker, because she was on top of it, trying to rip it off of me faster than I could think. She finally tore it off of me and grabbed a sharp shard of glass off the floor, stabbing it in the neck over and over again. It screeched in its last dying breath, still trying to grab at the two of us.

I could feel the tears streaming down my cheeks as I got up and hugged Riley, crying into her shirt. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked and looked over her shoulder at me. "We," I sniffed "we could have died, like before." I wiped my nose on my sleeve as she lifted my chin up, "We're fine, we lived. Just look at these fuckers, they are gone and we're still here. We aren't going to die any time soon, I can promise you that." She lifted my chin up a little higher and pressed her soft lips to my chapped ones. I returned the kiss, softly moaning as it did. I held onto her shoulders as I felt her tongue prodding at my bottom lip, requesting entrance, so I opened my mouth to let her explore. I almost cried when she pulled away, "W-where's Joel?" she asked, her voice shaky.

I pointed behind her; he was tied up in a chair, bruised and battered with a dried trail of blood leading to his eye, which had a knife stuck in it. He was lucky to be alive, if he even was alive.

"Oh my god is he dead?!" I gasped and ran to him.

He grunted and slowly opened his one good eye. "S-Sarah?" he asked, reaching out at me.

"No, it's Ellie, are you okay?" I untied his wrists while Riley untied his feet, "Who did this to you?" Riley asked, examining his eye.

"Tess." He spit blood across the room into a vase like in those old cowboy movies.

"Who the hell is 'Tess'?" I asked.

He coughed, "An old lov-partner of mine. I made some mistakes in the past involving her, and she," he spat up more blood, "she hasn't gotten over them."

He got up and stumbled to a mirror, looking at and around his eye. I watched as he slowly took the knife out of his eye, grunting in the proses, and I handed him a med kit to clean his wound. He finished cleaning his eye and wrapped his eye in gauze. "Joel you look pretty beat up, go rest for a while, it's still dark out." Riley was right, it was still dark out. Joel limped upstairs and into a spare bedroom, we could hear him fall onto the bed and almost immediately start snoring.

"Is there any more infected around?" I asked Riley, looking around myself.

"No, they would have attacked already." She pulled me in for a hug and kissed my forehead, "C'mon, let's go get some sleep."

"Alrighty,"

We walked back to our room, got into bed, and slept.


	8. i bet u all hate me rn

holy fucking shit i haven't posted in awhile. i have a dumb life to live, but i promise ill get a new chapter up as soon as possible. sorry im such a d-bag lol 


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